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181
Other Targets
Although the violence was centered
in Wilmington, men throughout the state
were threatened with bodily harm both
before and after the election. A gradual shift
in both the racial and political makeup of the
state was reflected in the political rhetoric of
the white supremacy campaign. Whereas
many Wilmingtonians were either killed or
banished as a result of the election campaign
or the violence on November tenth, a few
white men such as Wilmington Populist
Benjamin Keith, Senator Marion Butler, and
Governor Daniel Russell were assured that
they had escaped with their lives. All
experienced physical threats, with Keith
living in constant fear in Wilmington,
Russell barricaded in the Governor’s
Mansion, and Butler moving between North
Carolina and Washington, D. C.
Keith maintained throughout the rest
of his life that men such as Furnifold
Simmons worked to ruin him financially and
politically, even threatening his family well
into the twentieth century. Keith managed
to keep his prospects open and was
appointed collector of customs for the port
of Wilmington in 1903 by President
Theodore Roosevelt and held on to the
position for over 12 years before retiring to
his Pender County farm. In the period prior
to the riot and in the ensuing decades, Keith
continuously was on the defensive in
business and politics in order to forestall
efforts by Democrats to deprive him of
either income or political station. 68
68 Keith, Memories; Connor, History of North
Carolina: North Carolina Biography V, 117.
Although Keith was respected by some businessmen
of Wilmington after the 1898 coup, he had just as
many enemies. In 1921, in an attempt to secure
reappointment as the collector of customs for the
port, Keith penned a long letter to President Warren
G. Harding in which he detailed his personal and
political trials: “[ A] fter destroying my business, they
for years tried to ostracize me and my family.” B. F.
After the election and the frenzy
surrounding the riot, Governor Russell went
to Asheville with his wife on November
fourteenth for her health. Russell wrote
Butler on the twelfth that “ Mrs. Russell has
been through such a terrible ordeal that I am
getting uneasy about her.” He was afraid
that she was on the verge of a breakdown,
and, as a result, he was taking her on the trip
“ for a day or so.” One of the stresses factors
weighing upon the Russells was the
realization that his “ friends in Wilmington”
had tried to assassinate him. Their trip was
planned to only last two days. While they
were there, Russell met with leading
Republicans to discuss the party’s defeat. 69
Upon his return to Raleigh, Russell found
himself isolated from the Republican Party
and set to face an aggressive Democratic
legislature in 1899. Russell feared that if he
resigned or if were impeached, he would not
be able to return to Wilmington because
there “ the devils are breaking up our
business and it looks like we will be driven
from our home.” Uncertain about his future,
Russell even asked his friend Benjamin
Duke if he could get a job with his tobacco
firm in New York. Russell confided in
Duke that “ being a Republican and living in
the South are getting to be too rank to be
borne.” 70
When the General Assembly
convened in 1899, Russell’s biennial
message was cautious but addressed the
issue of race and politics. Russell denied
Democratic Party accusations of “ negro
Keith to President Harding, July 5, 1921, photocopy
of original owned by Thomas J. Keith.
69 Discussion of the attempted assassination of
Russell can be found in Chapter 4. Raleigh Morning
Post, November 15, 1898; Governor Russell to
Marion Butler, November 12, 1898, Marion Butler
Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of
North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill.
70 Daniel Russell to Benjamin Duke, November 19,
December 2, 1898, B. N. Duke Papers as cited in
Crow, Maverick Republican, 136.

181
Other Targets
Although the violence was centered
in Wilmington, men throughout the state
were threatened with bodily harm both
before and after the election. A gradual shift
in both the racial and political makeup of the
state was reflected in the political rhetoric of
the white supremacy campaign. Whereas
many Wilmingtonians were either killed or
banished as a result of the election campaign
or the violence on November tenth, a few
white men such as Wilmington Populist
Benjamin Keith, Senator Marion Butler, and
Governor Daniel Russell were assured that
they had escaped with their lives. All
experienced physical threats, with Keith
living in constant fear in Wilmington,
Russell barricaded in the Governor’s
Mansion, and Butler moving between North
Carolina and Washington, D. C.
Keith maintained throughout the rest
of his life that men such as Furnifold
Simmons worked to ruin him financially and
politically, even threatening his family well
into the twentieth century. Keith managed
to keep his prospects open and was
appointed collector of customs for the port
of Wilmington in 1903 by President
Theodore Roosevelt and held on to the
position for over 12 years before retiring to
his Pender County farm. In the period prior
to the riot and in the ensuing decades, Keith
continuously was on the defensive in
business and politics in order to forestall
efforts by Democrats to deprive him of
either income or political station. 68
68 Keith, Memories; Connor, History of North
Carolina: North Carolina Biography V, 117.
Although Keith was respected by some businessmen
of Wilmington after the 1898 coup, he had just as
many enemies. In 1921, in an attempt to secure
reappointment as the collector of customs for the
port, Keith penned a long letter to President Warren
G. Harding in which he detailed his personal and
political trials: “[ A] fter destroying my business, they
for years tried to ostracize me and my family.” B. F.
After the election and the frenzy
surrounding the riot, Governor Russell went
to Asheville with his wife on November
fourteenth for her health. Russell wrote
Butler on the twelfth that “ Mrs. Russell has
been through such a terrible ordeal that I am
getting uneasy about her.” He was afraid
that she was on the verge of a breakdown,
and, as a result, he was taking her on the trip
“ for a day or so.” One of the stresses factors
weighing upon the Russells was the
realization that his “ friends in Wilmington”
had tried to assassinate him. Their trip was
planned to only last two days. While they
were there, Russell met with leading
Republicans to discuss the party’s defeat. 69
Upon his return to Raleigh, Russell found
himself isolated from the Republican Party
and set to face an aggressive Democratic
legislature in 1899. Russell feared that if he
resigned or if were impeached, he would not
be able to return to Wilmington because
there “ the devils are breaking up our
business and it looks like we will be driven
from our home.” Uncertain about his future,
Russell even asked his friend Benjamin
Duke if he could get a job with his tobacco
firm in New York. Russell confided in
Duke that “ being a Republican and living in
the South are getting to be too rank to be
borne.” 70
When the General Assembly
convened in 1899, Russell’s biennial
message was cautious but addressed the
issue of race and politics. Russell denied
Democratic Party accusations of “ negro
Keith to President Harding, July 5, 1921, photocopy
of original owned by Thomas J. Keith.
69 Discussion of the attempted assassination of
Russell can be found in Chapter 4. Raleigh Morning
Post, November 15, 1898; Governor Russell to
Marion Butler, November 12, 1898, Marion Butler
Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of
North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill.
70 Daniel Russell to Benjamin Duke, November 19,
December 2, 1898, B. N. Duke Papers as cited in
Crow, Maverick Republican, 136.